The Tokyo Subway Sarin Attacks 1995 – Part 2

About this episode

The episode discusses the Aum Shinrikyo's sarin gas attack in Tokyo and its aftermath.

As the Japanese police prepare for a raid on the Aum Shinrikyo compound, cult leader Shoko Asahara launches a desperate chemical weapons attack in downtown Tokyo. During the height of Monday morning rush hour, Aum terrorists target five commuter trains with sarin gas, killing 13 people and scarring the psyche of an entire nation. In the aftermath, survivors struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives and adapt to new realities. SOURCES: Amarasingam, A. (2017, April 5). A history of sarin as a weapon. The Atlantic. Brackett, D. W. Holy Terror: Armageddon in Tokyo. 1996. Cotton, Simon. “Nerve Agents: What Are They and How Do They Work?” American Scientist, vol. 106, no. 3, 2018, pp. 138–40. Danzig, Richard; Sageman, Marc; Leighton, Terrance; Hough, Lloyd; Yuki, Hidemi; Kotani, Rui; Hosford, Zachary M.. Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop Biological and Chemical Weapons . Center for a New American Security. 2011 “Former ER Doctor Recalls Fear Treating Victims in 1995 Tokyo Sarin Attack.” The Japan Times, March 18, 2025.. Gunaratna, Rohan. “Aum Shinrikyo’s Rise, Fall and Revival.” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, vol. 10, no. 8, 2018, pp. 1–6. Harmon…

Topics covered

• Tokyo Subway Sarin Attacks
• Aum Shinrikyo
• chemical weapons
• terrorism
• survivors

Keywords

• sarin gas
• cult leader
• Shoko Asahara
• commuter trains
• Japan

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Aum

Books & works: Nerve Agents: What, Aum Shinrikyo: Insights Into How Terrorists Develop, Aum Shinrikyo’s Rise, Fall and Revival, How Terrorist Groups End: Studies of the Twentieth Century, IHT: A Safe and Sure System, Policing and Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo, Aum’s Shoko Asahara and the Cult at the End of the World

Places: Tokyo

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